Captive Hearts
by Dreamcatcher19
Summary: On the run from the law after being framed for a crime he didn't commit, Jack is then forced to hold Kim captive after she discovers where he is hiding. Will Jack learn to trust that Kim is on his side, and will Kim finally share her true feelings for Jack?
1. Chapter 1

It was Tuesday morning on a very hot summer day in Southern California, and today was the day that Kim was absolutely determined to find Jack. It had been a crazy past couple of days for the both of them, to say the least. Just two days ago, a warrant had been issued for Jack's arrest, and Jack had gone into hiding ever since. The police were accusing Jack of stealing a car and then robbing a convenience store, before ditching the stolen car.

Kim had heard the whole story because it was all over the news, but never in a million years would she believe that Jack could be involved in such a crime. There had to be more to the story, and Kim was bound and determined to find out what really happened. This is why Kim was desperate to find Jack, but for the last two days, Jack would not answer her phone calls or reply to any of her text messages.

Up until now, she had no idea how she would be able to find Jack, but then, last night, as Kim laid awake in her bed, something clicked. It was about something that Jack had recently told her about himself.

Before he died, Jack's uncle had an old log cabin up in the San Gabriel Mountains just an hour or so outside of L.A. Very few people, if any, knew about the place except Jack, who was sort of like a son to his uncle, since his uncle never had any children of his own. Jack would stay up there with his uncle every now and then to go fishing in the many nearby creeks and lakes. Just shortly before Jack's uncle died, he gave Jack a key to the cabin and said, "I want you to have the cabin. You were always like a son to me, and I want you to have it."

Jack had told all of this in confidence to Kim about a month ago. He asked Kim not to tell anybody else about the cabin. Jack said he that he liked to go up to there every now and then before a big karate tournament, because the peace and solitude of the old log cabin and its beautiful surroundings gave Jack the perfect place to focus and concentrate on his training and preparation for the next tournament.

Kim was now sure that this cabin was exactly where Jack was hiding, and she had been driving north on the freeway all morning just to get there. She didn't have an exact address for the place, but Jack did tell her approximately where the cabin was located. Jack also had texted Kim a photo of the cozy little log cabin shortly after telling her the story of how his uncle had given it to him.

On the way up to those mountains, Kim kept asking herself if she was doing the right thing, for surely this was a law enforcement matter, and she knew she could get herself in a heap of trouble. She kept on asking herself why she was getting herself involved. The answer she kept giving herself was that Jack had to be innocent, and that she had to do whatever she could to help expose the truth as to who was really behind that crime.

"Just think about it," Kim said to herself, as she made her way through the morning traffic. "Every TV station in town is giving viewers the impression that Jack is guilty, and here I am... a reporter for my own school's TV station. If Jack and I can work together to find the real criminal, just imagine what that could do for my future career if I could be the reporter to break that story!"

But deep down inside, Kim knew that she was doing this for much more than just her future career. She was doing this because she had always had a thing for Jack ever since they met, but up until now she still hadn't worked up the courage to tell Jack about the feelings that she had for him. Perhaps, if she could just help Jack clear his name and prove his innocence, maybe this would show Jack just how much she cared for him.

When Kim was finally up in the mountains, she saw a mailbox at the end of a private dirt road coming up on her left. She was in the approximate area of where Jack had told her the cabin was located, so Kim hung a left turn and began heading down the dirt road. The long dirt road went down hill about a half-mile or so, and sure enough, at the end of the road was a tiny log cabin.

Kim parked in front of the cabin, and after getting out of her car, she looked up at the front of the cabin, and then looked at the photo of the cabin that Jack had texted her about a month ago. Kim thought the cabin looked similar enough to the one in the photo, but then she also cautioned herself that a lot of log cabins probably look alike.

Nevertheless, Kim walked up and knocked on the front door. After a few moments, she knocked on the door again, but there was no answer. No other cars besides Kim's were parked outside the cabin, and she wondered if anyone was inside. After knocking on the door a third time, Kim reached out to turn the door handle, and she found that the door was unlocked.

Kim carefully turned around and looked behind her to make sure nobody could see her before she walked into the cabin. Once she was inside, Kim studied the surroundings of the cozy little getaway. Downstairs was a small living room with a couch, two matching chairs, and a TV. Also downstairs was a kitchen with somewhat outdated appliances and an antique wooden kitchen table. She then saw the stairway leading to the bedroom in the loft upstairs.

Kim walked into the kitchen and noticed a few dirty dishes in the sink, indicating that somebody must have been here not too long ago. But other than that, there were no other signs of life, so Kim decided to head upstairs to the loft to investigate some more.

Once she was up in the loft, Kim noticed the queen-sized bed with a wooden headboard, along with a matching dresser and a chest of drawers. Immediately, she began going through the dresser drawers to see what kind of evidence she could find, but each one of them was empty. She then walked to the other side of the room, and began rummaging through the chest of drawers.

What she saw inside that chest of drawers was all Kim needed to see to know that she had found the right place. There in that chest of drawers was a pair of Jack's jeans, a couple of this sweatshirts, one of his favorite T-shirts, and a few more of Jack's clothes that Kim recognized.

Kim was giggling to herself after finding a pair of Jack's silk boxer shorts in one of the drawers, when all of a sudden she heard a familiar voice from right behind her say, "Did you find what you were looking for?"

A startled Kim screamed at the top of her lungs, as Jack quickly grabbed her from behind and placed his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. "MMMMPH!" was the sound of Kim's muffled voice, as Jack continued to hold her from behind, with his right arm tightly draped around her midsection and his left hand firmly clamped over Kim's mouth.

"Keep your voice down!" Jack hissed. "I don't need anyone to know I'm up here. Now, if you promise not to scream, I'll take my hand away from your mouth. Do you promise?"

"Mmhmm," was Kim's muffled reply. Jack then slowly took his hand away from Kim's mouth, while releasing Kim from the tight grip he had on her. "I guess you're wondering what I'm doing here, huh?" asked a guilty looking Kim, as she turned around to face Jack.

"Well, I wasn't expecting any visitors, so yeah, I would like to know what the heck you're doing here," Jack angrily replied.

Kim was so tongue-tied at first, not knowing exactly how to respond. Right now, she wanted so badly to tell Jack that she was here because she was madly in love with him, but instead, she explained that the school TV station had assigned her to investigate the story behind Jack's arrest warrant and subsequent disappearance. "Jack, I know you have to be innocent," Kim told him. "I came here to get your side of the story, so that we can find out who was really behind that stolen car and the convenience store robbery.

"Well, isn't this just great," fumed a frustrated Jack. "That's all I need right now. Some nosy reporter telling everyone where I'm hiding out."

"Jack, you know I wouldn't do that," Kim insisted.

"I'm sorry, but with everything going on in my life right now, I can't trust anyone right now, and I'm afraid that includes you too," said Jack with a frown. "By the way, how did you manage to find this place anyways?"

"You told me about this place about a month ago," Kim reminded him. "Don't you remember?"

"Well, I can now see that was a big mistake," said Jack, as he gently took Kim by the arm and walked her down the stairs. "You shouldn't have come here Kim," Jack continued when they got to the bottom of the steps.

"I promise you Jack, I came here to help you," Kim firmly insisted. "You have to believe me."

"I'm not sure who I can believe in lately!" shouted a furious Jack. "Besides, didn't you just tell me the school TV station gave you an assignment to cover my story? That's why you're really here, now isn't it? I'm telling you, Kim... Coming here was a really bad idea for you!"

"Ok... I guess I'll go then," Kim sheepishly replied after a brief moment of awkward silence between the two of them.

"No, I'm afraid you're not going anywhere for a while," Jack then told Kim.

"What do you mean?" asked a perplexed Kim. "You just told me that coming here was a bad idea."

"Yeah, but I can't just let you go now," replied Jack. "What if you tell someone where I'm hiding out?"

"Jack, I already told you I won't tell anyone," said Kim.

"And I already told you that I've been having some major trust issues with everyone lately, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to tie you up," Jack said to Kim.

"What?!" Kim responded with a look of bewilderment in her eyes.

"You heard me, Kim. I'm going to tie you up," repeated Jack, as he pulled a wooden chair out and away from the kitchen table. "Now sit down for me please."

"Jack, this isn't necessary," said Kim, as she watched Jack pick up some white nylon ropes from where they were hanging off a hook on the wall.

"Don't make this harder for me than it already is," pleaded Jack, as he approached the wooden chair with the ropes in his hand. "Please sit down."

Silence then fell about the room, as Kim complied with Jack's demand and took a seat in the hard wooden chair. She then watched Jack walk to the back of the chair, where he gently pulled both of her arms back before placing both of her wrists together behind the back of the chair. Kim could hear her heart pounding in her chest when she felt the nylon rope being wrapped around her wrists.

As Jack continued to tie Kim to the chair, Kim couldn't help but notice how Jack and those seemingly magical fingers of his somehow knew how to tie her knots just tight enough so that she would not be able to escape, but not so tight that the rope would hurt her. Being just seventeen years old, Kim had never been tied up before, but something about the whole experience was now surprisingly somehow giving her a bit of a thrill.

Just like in the movies, here she was. The intrepid reporter, chasing down leads so that she could break her big story, and now she had been captured by the devilishly handsome subject of her investigation who was afraid that she would expose the truth about him. The whole thing fulfilled a little fantasy she had always had, but if it was anyone else besides Jack tying her up right now, she certainly never would have felt this way.

After Jack finished tying Kim's hands behind the back of the chair, he moved to the front of her chair and got down on one knee in front of Kim so that he could tie her ankles together with another piece of rope.

"So... What do you plan to do with me now?" asked Kim, as she looked down at Jack, who had placed both of Kim's feet together, before he began to tie the rope around her ankles.

"Well, while you were breaking into my cabin, I was just on my way back to L.A. to try and find out who framed me, but then I had to turn around and come back here when I realized I forgot something," Jack explained to Kim, while she watched him continue to tie her ankles together.

"I didn't break in here," Kim protested, as Jack finished tying the final knot to the rope that now kept Kim's ankles tightly bound together. "The front door was unlocked."

"Let's not split hairs, shall we?" replied Jack. "Anyways, you're going to stay here while I go back to L.A. and follow up on something."

"Follow up on what?" Kim asked with curiosity. "Come on, Jack. If you're going to leave me here all tied up like this, you at least owe me the truth. What's going on?"

"All right... Let me explain," began Jack. "This whole nightmare of mine started when I bumped into Frank Bickle one day. You obviously know how much he and I don't get along, but on this one day he was all buddy-buddy with me, almost to the point where he was practically kissing my butt."

"Frank Bickle... I should have known he was somehow behind this," Kim replied.

"Tell me about it," replied Jack. "So anyways, Frank and I somehow got on the subject of cars, and I told him about this SUV I've been wanting. Frank then tells me about this used car dealer that can get me a great deal on the same type of SUV if I mention Frank's name."

"Let me guess...That same SUV was the car that the police are accusing you of supposedly having stolen," surmised Kim.

"Exactly," replied Jack. "I went to the dealership and they let me take the SUV for a test drive by myself. After I went around the block once or twice, I didn't really like how the car ran, so I took it back and basically said 'Thanks, but no thanks,' and then I left. Later that day, I get home and the first thing my parents tell me is that the police were there with a warrant for my arrest, stating that the car dealership was claiming that I had stolen that very same car. My folks demanded that I turn myself in, but I took off instead."

"And that very same car and license plate was later identified by the clerk who was robbed at the convenience store," acknowledged Kim.

"Precisely," said Jack. "And later on that same car was found ditched on the side of the road with my fingerprints all over the steering wheel since I had taken it for a test drive earlier that day."

"But why would the car dealer claim you stole the car?" asked Kim.

"Thats what I need to find out," explained Jack. "Someone at that dealership has to somehow be connected to Frank Bickle, and I need to find out who it is and what their motive is for framing me for this whole thing.

"So, what are you going to do?" Kim asked excitedly.

"That dealership opens up at 11:00 am today," Jack began. "I need to get down there before they open. I'm going to break into their office, Kim. I'm going have to go through their computers, their desks, their files... I need to track down any clues I can find that might point to who else besides Frank is behind this and what their motive is."

"Jack, that sounds pretty dangerous," warned Kim. "Please be careful."

"Oh, I plan to be careful alright," replied Jack. "That's why I need to run upstairs and grab what I forgot to take with me earlier." Jack then ran upstairs to the loft, and after he quickly returned downstairs to where Kim was tied up, Kim couldn't help but giggle when she saw that Jack was wearing a disguise consisting of a short blonde wig and a fake pair of glasses.

"I like the new look," Kim said with a grin going from ear to ear.

"Well, I don't. But I can't have anybody spotting me." muttered Jack. "And you know what? Now I'm actually glad you showed up because I'm going to take your car instead of mine. This will be way safer for me, because I'm sure every cop in Southern California has a description and plate number for my car. You don't mind if I take your car, do you?"

"Um, I'm a little bit tied up at the moment... Does it look like I have a choice in the matter?" Kim quipped.

"Right. There's just one more thing I'm afraid I have to take care of before I leave," continued Jack, as he pulled a blue bandana out of his pocket.

"What's the bandana for?" asked Kim, as she watched Jack roll up the bandana before stretching it out from side to side.

"This mountain is crawling with hikers and forest rangers," explained Jack, as he walked to the back of Kim's chair. "I have to make sure you keep quiet so that you can't scream out for help."

"Wow, I guess you're not taking any chances with me, are you?" replied Kim.

"I'm afraid not," Jack answered. While standing behind Kim's chair, Jack then placed the middle of the blue bandana over Kim's mouth, before carefully tying the two ends of the bandana behind her head. "That's not too tight, is it?" Jack asked after tying Kim's gag into place. Kim then mumbled into her gag to say that she was okay.

Jack then stood in front of Kim's chair for a moment and gazed down at a bound and gagged Kim. He hated having to leave her this way, but he simply felt like he had no other choice. Kim just gazed back at him, and Jack couldn't help but notice how the blue bandana tied over Kim's mouth actually seemed to draw even more attention to those pretty brown eyes of hers.

"I'm so sorry about all of this," Jack said to Kim. "Just try and stay comfortable, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

Jack then put the TV on for Kim before leaving her there all alone in the cabin. As soon as Kim heard Jack start up her car and take off down that old dirt road, she missed him already. Looking back to just moments earlier, Kim wished she would have convinced Jack to take her with him. What Jack was about to embark on was certainly a dangerous endeavor, and Kim now wished more than ever that she was right alongside Jack to provide any help she could.

When Jack had first tied her up, Kim wasn't as interested in trying to get loose from the ropes, but now she was determined to escape from her bondage so that she could race back to L.A. and be with Jack. Kim could hear herself softly moaning into her gag when she was trying to pull her hands free from the rope keeping her wrists tied behind the back of the chair, but it was no use. The knots were simply too tight, and the harder she struggled the tighter the nylon rope felt against her soft, tender wrists.

Kim then looked down at the rope keeping her ankles tightly bound together, and she desperately tried to wiggle her legs back and forth to see if she could get her feet loose, but this too proved to be hopeless. After she finally stopped straining against her bindings, Kim then sighed deeply into her gag, knowing that she wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Kim then stared at the TV for moment, trying to distract her mind from everything going on, but she couldn't get her mind off of Jack. Kim thought back to the moment when Jack first caught her snooping around the cabin. When he first asked her what she was doing there, Kim now knew that this could have been the perfect moment for her to pour her heart out to Jack and finally show her feelings for him. However, with the danger that Jack was now about to place himself in, Kim wondered if she would ever have another opportunity to finally tell Jack how much she was in love with him.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been several hours since Jack had left Kim tied up and gagged in the cabin, while he had gone back to L.A. to break into the car dealership so that he could search for clues as to who might have framed him. After long since having given up with her valiant efforts to somehow get herself loose from the ropes keeping her so tightly bound, all Kim could do now is sit there helplessly tied to the chair while waiting for Jack to return to her.

Finally, Kim heard the car pull up and park right outside the front of the cabin. She then saw Jack come in through the front door. Jack was relieved to find Kim tied and gagged just where he had left her, but at the same time, he hated what he was having to do to her. After he walked over to Kim's chair, he removed her gag so that the blue bandanna was now just loosely draped around her neck.

"Are you doing okay?" Jack asked Kim with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I'm really thirsty," Kim replied. "Could I have some water?"

"Yeah, of course," answered Jack, as he quickly went over to the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of water. He then walked back over to where Kim was tied to the chair, and he held the bottle up to her mouth so that she could take a sip. While doing so, some of the water accidentally spilled onto the white crop top and cut off jean shorts that Kim was wearing. "Sorry about that," said an apologetic Jack, as he quickly grabbed a kitchen towel and tried to soak up the water that had spilled onto Kim's clothes.

"Don't worry about it. It's just water," Kim said with a smile. "So how did it go at that car dealership? Did you find out anything?"

"I think I may have," said Jack with encouragement in his voice. "I was going through one of the salesman's computers, and after I was able to hack into his email, I found out that this guy is involved in some sort of gambling ring. He has a $100,000 bet that the Black Dragons are going to beat us in that Dojo tournament next week."

"And by framing you for stealing that car and robbing that convenience store, he makes sure that you're not going to be at that tournament so that he has a much better chance of winning that bet," said Kim.

"Exactly," replied Jack.

"What a creep!" said Kim. "So what are you going to do now? Are you going to go to the police with this information?"

"Not just yet," answered Jack. "This loser is betting a ton of money on high school sports, but that won't necessarily prove my innocence."

"But it will show that the car salesman had motive to lie to the police about you supposedly stealing that car," argued Kim.

"Yeah, but what about the convenience store robbery?" replied Jack. "Supposedly, they have security video of a masked gunman about my same height and weight robbing the store that night. Somehow, I need to find out who was really behind that robbery. Plus, I want to find out how this car salesman is connected to Frank Bickle, because I want Bickle to go down for this too."

"Jack, I don't suppose you could untie me now, could you?" Kim asked, while batting her pretty brown eyes back at Jack's direction. "I really have to go to the bathroom."

"Alright, I'll untie you now, but don't try anything funny...Okay?" said Jack.

"I won't. I promise," answered Kim.

Jack then walked to the back of Kim's chair, where he untied the rope that was keeping Kim's hands tied behind the back of the chair. Once her hands were free, Jack walked to the front of the chair and got down on one knee in front of Kim so that he could untie the other rope that had kept her ankles tightly bound together.

"Thank you," Kim said to Jack when she got up from the chair while rubbing her wrists after Jack had untied her.

"Don't mention it," said Jack. "The bathroom is right over there." After Kim was done using the bathroom she walked out of the bathroom and saw Jack standing behind the hard wooden chair that Kim had been tied to. "Now sit back down so that I can tie you up again," he told her.

"Aw, come on...Do you have to tie me up again?" Kim said while batting those pretty brown eyes of hers again. "I promise I'm not going to try to escape, and even if I did, I would never tell the police where you were hiding."

"I'm this close to getting enough evidence to prove my innocence, and I'm not about to take any chances with you now," insisted Jack. "Now sit down for me please."

"But that chair is so uncomfortable," complained Kim. "If you insist on having to keep me tied up, can't you just tie my hands in front? I'd be so much more comfortable that way."

"Alright, but I'm telling you...Don't try anything funny," said Jack, as he walked up to where Kim was standing with one of the pieces of white nylon rope in his hand.

"I promise," said Kim, as she held out her hands and placed both of her wrists together so that Jack could tie her up. "By the way, where did you learn to tie knots so well?" Kim asked with a grin on her face, as she watched Jack begin to tie the rope around her wrists. "When I was tied to that chair, I couldn't get loose if my life had depended on it."

"I don't know...I guess I must have learned this in the Boy Scouts," said Jack as he began to tie a second and final knot to the rope that would now keep Kim's hands tied together in front of her.

"They taught you how to tie up a girl in the Boy Scouts?" Kim humorously replied with a giggle, as she watched Jack finish tying the last knot.

"Yeah, can you imagine if there was a merit badge for that?" Jack replied with a chuckle.

"You're cute," Kim said to Jack, feeling as if the words had just slipped right out of her mouth.

"You're pretty cute too," Jack told her. "Listen, Kim...I'm sorry to have to put you through all of this, but with everything happening to me recently, I just don't know who I can trust any more."

"I understand," said Kim.

"You do?" asked Jack.

"I do," answered Kim. "Jack, I have to tell you something. I haven't been completely truthful with you today. Remember what I told you when you caught me snooping around your cabin earlier today?"

"Yeah. You told me you had come up here to find some clues behind my whole arrest warrant because the school TV station had assigned you to do so," recalled Jack. "Is that part not true?"

"No, that part is true," answered Kim. "I did come up here as just another nosy reporter trying to find any leads that I can so that I can break my first really big story, but there is something else that also brought me up here. Something way more important than just some silly news story."

"What else brought you up here?" Jack asked with curiosity.

"My heart brought me up here," said Kim.

"Your heart?" asked Jack.

"Jack, when I heard that story on the news about you supposedly stealing that car and then robbing that store, I simply knew it wasn't true," said Kim. "My heart would break if I had to see you go to jail for a crime you didn't commit. I can't imagine what my life would be like without you. Jack, I don't know any other way to say this, but you're all I can think about lately. I think I'm falling in love with you."

"Wow!" replied a blushing Jack, as he gazed into Kim's eyes while being at a loss for any other words at that moment.

"I know what I just said is a lot to take in, isn't it?" continued Kim.

"Kim, I've been wanting to tell you the same exact thing for the longest time," revealed Jack. "You're all I think about night and day. I can't imagine my life without you either. I think I'm falling in love with you too. I just haven't had the courage to tell you."

"I think you just did," replied Kim with a smile going from ear to ear. With Kim's hands still tied in front, Kim then put her arms around Jack. With Kim's elbows comfortably resting on Jack's broad shoulders, she pulled him closer to her. Before either one of them knew it, the two of them began to kiss for the very first time.


	3. Chapter 3

There in the rustic log cabin high atop the San Gabriel Mountains just north of L.A., Jack and Kim were sharing their first kiss together, and neither one of them wanted this moment to end. Just prior to their kiss, Jack had tied Kim's hands together to prevent her from being able to escape from the cabin, but the idea of trying to escape from Jack was the furthest thing from Kim's mind right now. The two lovers held each other so close as Kim tousled the back of Jack's hair with her bound hands.

Meanwhile, Jack was softly caressing the small of Kim's back, which was bare because of the white crop top she was wearing. With their eyes closed, Jack and Kim continued to explore the inside of each other's warm mouths with their moist, curious tongues before finally coming up for air.

"I should call my parents and tell them that I'm sleeping over at a friend's house so that I can stay here with you tonight," Kim said excitedly as she continued to hold Jack closely.

"No, this isn't right," Jack replied as he let go of Kim and nervously ran his fingers through his hair. "Kim, you can't stay here."

"Why not?" asked Kim who was still slightly out of breath from their long kiss. "We both know how we feel about each other now, don't we?"

"Of course," Jack replied. "But if the cops were to find you hiding up here with me, you'd be in a lot of trouble. You'd be guilty of aiding and abetting a known fugitive."

"So keep me tied up," suggested Kim. "We'll pretend I'm your hostage in case the police do find us."

"Great... Then the cops will add kidnapping to my list of charges," Jack replied with a tone of frustration in his voice. "Kim, hold out your hands for me because I'm going to untie you right now. I want you to go home and forget you ever found this place."

"But I want to stay here," replied Kim as she held out her hands and watched Jack begin to untie the white nylon rope from around her wrists. "Jack, I don't want to be without you."

"I don't want to be without you either, but I'm in enough trouble as it is, and I'd hate to see you get in trouble over all of this," said Jack as he finished untying Kim's hands before tossing the rope aside. "I'm telling you...If the cops were to find you hiding out with me up here, they'd place you in handcuffs and take you to jail right along with me."

"Nobody is going to find us up here," argued Kim.

"I don't want to take that chance," insisted Jack. "It would be one thing if the cops were to find me up here, but if they found you here with me and hauled you in, I'd never forgive myself." Jack then gently took Kim by the hand and walked her out to her car.

"Jack, I'm worried that I'm never going to see you again," said Kim, as a single tear streamed down her beautiful face while she stood by her drivers side door and gazed into Jack's eyes.

"Kim, I promise you that we will be together again," Jack said to Kim. "I got myself into this mess, and I'm darn sure going to get myself out of it. I just need some time to make absolutely sure that I can prove to everyone that I'm innocent."

"You didn't get yourself into this mess," Kim said sympathetically. "Someone else created this whole mess for you."

"Be that as it may, I promise that you and I will be together again some day," said Jack, as he held Kim close and gave her one last kiss. "Now, please go. And don't tell anyone you found me up here."

"I won't," replied Kim; a second tear was steaming down her cheek when she got into her car. Before she started up the car and headed down that old dirt road back toward the highway, she waved goodbye to Jack from her driver's seat, wondering if she would ever see him again.

By the time Kim was back on the highway, she was fighting back the tears, but soon she managed to get her emotions in check as her instincts as a young reporter began to kick in. Kim wasn't about to go home and do nothing. She was going to do whatever she could to investigate who had framed Jack and who was behind the stolen car and the convenience store robbery.

While making the one hour drive back to L.A., Kim got on her cell phone and consulted with one of her sources to find out where Frank Bickle lived. It turned out that Frank lived by himself in a studio apartment in West Hollywood. Frank was the one who had referred Jack to the used car dealership, where the car had supposedly been stolen. Kim knew the whole thing had to be a set up, and now she was planning to confront Frank Bickle personally and try to find out how he was connected to that car dealer.

When Kim got to Frank's apartment, she tapped lightly on his front door, but there was no answer. A moment later, she knocked on the door a little louder, but still nobody came to the door. Kim then looked carefully behind her to make sure nobody was watching her, while removing a bobby pin from her hair. Using the bobby pin, Kim was able to pick the lock to Frank's front door before sneaking into his apartment.

The tiny studio apartment consisted of an old sofa in front of a flat screen TV, a small kitchenette, a double bed with a wooden headboard, and a small desk with a desktop computer in the corner of the room. Immediately, Kim sat down at the computer, and shortly after she was able to hack into Frank's email, she found all of the evidence she would need.

It was an email from the used car salesman who had placed the $100,000 bet on the Black Dragons in next week's tournament. In the message to Frank, he promised to cut Frank in on $50,000 of the winnings if Frank went along with his plan to frame Jack. In a two word reply to that email from the car salesman, Frank had typed, "I'm in."

Kim then printed the email so that she could bring it to the police. As Kim stood up from the chair and was just about to pick up what she had printed out, she had no idea that Frank Bickle had just quietly entered his apartment, as he was now standing right behind her!

Suddenly, Frank grabbed Kim from behind! With his right arm tightly draped around Kim's bare midriff, Frank firmly clamped his left hand over Kim's mouth to make sure she couldn't scream out for help! Kim began struggling for all she was worth, but even her athletic body was no match against the extremely tight grip that Frank had on her. Kim had become so close to giving the police enough evidence to prove Jack's innocence, but now she had been captured by the enemy.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: I want to send out a huge thank you to StylishFashionista for being my beta reader on this story. Her attention to detail is amazing, and I couldn't do this without her. And thank you to everyone who has read the story so far. Please send more reviews, because it will definitely motivate me to update more often! Here is Chapter 4. :)**_

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><p>After Frank caught Kim snooping around his apartment, he continued to hold her tightly from behind with his left hand firmly pressed over her mouth. Kim was struggling like a wildcat, trying to somehow break free from the tight grip he had on her, but then she froze into place when she saw Frank pull out a switchblade knife while he continued to hold her from behind.<p>

"If you promise to be a good girl and not try and scream out for help, I'll take my hand away from your mouth," Frank whispered into Kim's right ear, while maintaining his hold on her. "Otherwise, I can make your stay here very unpleasant. Now, do you promise you won't scream?"

"Mmhmm," Kim mumbled into the palm of Frank's hand, as he then slowly took his hand away from Kim's mouth. "So, what do you plan to do with me now?" Kim asked, as Frank still held her tightly from behind.

"Well, first of all, I'm going to have to tie you up to make sure you can't go anywhere for a while, so I want you sit down here on the bed and make yourself comfortable," said Frank, as he brought Kim over to the bed. "Then you're going to tell me what you're doing snooping around my apartment," continued Frank, as he had Kim sit on the bed with her back up against the wooden headboard.

Using his switchblade knife, Frank then began slicing the corner of the top cotton bed sheet into three separate strips of fabric, each about a couple of feet long. Kim then watched helplessly, as Frank used one of the torn strips of fabric to tie Kim's left wrist to a wooden bedpost at her left side. Once Kim's left wrist was secured to the bedpost, Frank made his way to the other side of the bed, where he tied Kim's right wrist to a bedpost at her right side with another piece of fabric from the torn bed sheet.

After he was done tying Kim to the bedposts, Frank moved to the foot of the bed and he tied the third strip of fabric around Kim's ankles so that she wouldn't be able to kick him or anything. "I have to tell you Kim... You look pretty hot all tied up like this," Frank told her with an evil grin on his face after he had finished tying Kim's ankles together.

"Go to hell!" exclaimed Kim loudly, as she tested her bindings, desperately trying to see if she could get loose from her bondage.

"Such a dirty little mouth for such a pretty young girl," Frank said to Kim, as he sat down next to her on the bed and slowly began to rub the top of her bare thighs with his right hand.

"Get your hands off of me!" Kim demanded.

"I want you to tell me what you're doing here," Frank said to Kim, as he grabbed her chin firmly with his right hand and stared into her eyes.

"Go look over there on your printer," Kim said as she glared back at Frank. "It's all there in black and white." Frank then walked over to the printer to read the email that Kim had earlier printed out.

"So, you know about me and that car dealer and how we framed Jack, don't you," Frank said after reading the emails between him and the car salesman, which plainly indicated what they were planning to do to Jack. "Too bad nobody else is going to find out," Frank continued, as he tore the paper into shreds before tossing them into the garbage. "And just to be safe, I guess I better delete this email from my computer."

"Jack knows about this too, and you're going to be in so much trouble when he goes to the police. You might as well let me go now and turn yourself in," warned Kim.

"Give me one good reason why I should let you go," said Frank.

"Come on, Frank, you're in enough trouble as it is," said Kim. "Do you really want to add kidnapping to the list? Now, untie me and let me go."

"You know something, Kim? You're not only a very beautiful girl, but you're also pretty smart as well," said Frank. "Maybe a little too smart for your own good."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Kim.

"It means that you just gave me a great idea," replied Frank.

"Oh yeah? And what great idea is that?" Kim asked him.

"Well, when I first tied you up like this, I didn't think I was necessarily kidnapping you," said Frank. "I thought I was more or less just simply protecting myself by tying up an intruder who had broken into my apartment, but now I think I will kidnap you and keep you here for a while."

"What do you want with me, Frank?" Kim demanded to know.

"Well, right now you've just become the pretty little bargaining chip that I shall use against Jack," explained Frank. "Once Jack finds out that I'm holding you captive, I'm sure I should have no problem convincing him to turn himself in and plead guilty to stealing that car and robbing that convenience store in exchange for your safe release."

"You'll never get away with this," Kim warned. "As soon as you let me go, I'm going to tell the police exactly what's going on."

"Who said I'm ever going to let you go?" Frank replied as he gazed into Kim's eyes.

"Well, you can't keep me tied up here forever," said Kim.

"Why not?" replied Frank, as he sat back down on the bed next to Kim and once again began to rub the tops of her bare thighs.

"I told you to keep your hands off of me," Kim demanded.

"You know something else, Kim?" said Frank as he again pulled out his switchblade knife. "I truly believe that a beautiful girl such as yourself should be seen and not heard," continued Frank, as he sliced out one more strip of fabric from the corner of the top bed sheet.

Frank then got on top of where Kim was sitting on the bed, while straddling her hips with his legs. Kim then watched helplessly as Frank stuffed the middle of this last strip of fabric deep inside Kim's mouth before tightly knotting both ends of the torn piece of the bed sheet behind Kim's head.

"MMMMPH!" was the sound of Kim's muffled voice when Frank was tying her gag into place. He was tying her gag so tightly that the fabric was painfully pulling back on the corners of Kim's lips, and when Frank tied Kim's gag behind her head, part of her long, blonde hair got caught up in the knot behind her head. After he had gagged Kim, Frank just loved how the gag in Kim's mouth seemed to draw even more of his focus to those pretty brown eyes of hers.

"What do you say we make a little movie of you all tied up and gagged like this?" Frank said, as he got up from the bed and took Kim's cell phone out of her purse, which had been sitting on the desk at the corner of the room. Using the video camera feature of Kim's phone, Frank then began to record video of Kim, as she helplessly squirmed against her bonds while softly moaning into her gag.

"I bet Jack is going to be absolutely worried sick about you when he sees this video," Frank said to Kim, while continuing to record the video of Kim tied to the bed. If Kim wasn't all tied up right now, she surely would have been kicking herself for sneaking into Frank's apartment and letting herself get captured by Frank. She now knew that her mistake was very likely to cost Jack his freedom.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack was still hiding up in the cabin high atop the San Gabriel mountains, planning his next move when he saw that he had just received a text message from Kim's phone. Jack was absolutely shocked when he read the text, as this was now a complete game changer. The text message read, "You might think this is coming from your dear Kim, but it's not. She's a little bit tied up at the moment. Click on the attached video to see what I mean."

When Jack clicked on the attached video and began watching it, he could not believe his eyes. The video started off by showing a young woman's feet, which were bound together at her ankles by the torn strip of cloth that Frank had sliced off from his bed sheet. The video then slowly panned upwards, showing the girl's suntanned and shapely legs before Jack then noticed the cut-off jean shorts and white crop top that he had last seen Kim wearing. Finally, the video stopped panning upwards when it focused in on Kim's beautiful face.

Jack could now see that Kim was sitting on a bed with each of her wrists tied to the wooden bedposts behind her with two more strips of the torn fabric. He could also see that Kim was gagged with yet another strip of the fabric. Jack watched Kim struggling to somehow get loose; it was heart wrenching for Jack to see all of this, especially how Kim's gag seemed to draw more of his attention to the look of despair and helplessness in her pretty brown eyes. The video then abruptly came to an end.

"Who is this, and what do you want with Kim?" Jack typed in the reply text message.

"Who this is is not of importance to you," was the texted reply. "And it's not what I want with Kim, it's what I want from you."

"What do you want from me?" Jack texted back.

"At 3pm I want you to walk into the police station near Seaford High and turn yourself in," was the reply from the mysterious stranger.

"Turn myself in for what?" Jack asked in the next text.

"You know exactly what. For stealing that car and robbing that convenience store," said the next text back to Jack.

"I was framed for that, and you're the one who was behind it," Jack texted back. "Is this you, Frank Bickle?" Jack asked in another text.

There was a slight delay before Jack received another text that read, "I'm afraid Bickle got careless and had to be eliminated."

"What do you mean by eliminated?" texted Jack.

''He's dead. Just like your lovely Kim is going to be if you don't do as I say," was the cryptic reply. "I'll be watching the entrance to that police station from a remote location, and if I don't see you walk in through those front doors at 3pm, she's a dead girl," was the next text message Jack received.

"How do I know you'll let her go after I turn myself in?" Jack replied back.

"Because I'm a man of my word," was the reply.

"I demand that you give me some proof that you're going to let Kim go," texted Jack.

"You're in no position to be making demands. This conversation is over. Turn yourself in at 3pm or the girl is dead," was the last text to Jack.

Jack desperately tried to decide what to do next. He thought he could turn Kim's phone into the police so that he could show them the text messages and prove that she had been kidnapped, but since he was a wanted fugitive and the text messages happened to be coming from Kim's own phone, Jack knew that the police could easily assume that Jack and Kim had fabricated the whole thing about her being abducted. Jack looked down at his watch and saw that it was already nearly two o'clock. He barely had enough time to make it back to L.A. by 3:00pm. He knew there was only one thing to do; he jumped into his car and raced down that old dirt road back toward the highway.

Meanwhile, back at Frank's apartment, Frank set Kim's phone down after he had been texting with Jack and sat down next to where Kim was tied up and gagged on the bed. "I just managed to convince that boyfriend of yours that I'm dead, so he'll never think to look for you here, even if he did somehow manage to find out where I lived," Frank revealed to Kim. Kim glared at him.

"I also convinced him to turn himself in and confess to stealing that car and robbing that convenience store," Frank continued. "I threatened to kill you if he doesn't do what I say, but don't worry. I would never kill you. I've always had a thing for you, Kim, and I plan to keep you forever," Frank said as he gently grazed his fingertips across Kim's bare midriff and belly button. All Kim could do is squirm helplessly against her bindings while moaning into her gag in response to her captor's unwelcome touch.

"I'm sure you probably hate me right now, but you'll learn to love me in due time," Frank said to Kim; he then kissed her gagged lips while Kim tried to turn her head away. "Kim, I have to go now so that I can make sure that Jack turns himself in at that police station like I've instructed him. Don't you try to go anywhere while I'm gone, because I'll be back before you know it."

After checking the knots to Kim's bindings to make sure they were tight enough, Frank then left Kim alone in his apartment. As soon as Kim was by herself, she looked over to her left and then over to her right, studying the white torn strips of fabric keeping her tender wrists tied to the bedposts. She desperately tried to see if she could wiggle her wrists around to try and get her hands free, but it was no use.

Kim then looked down at the strip of fabric keeping her ankles tightly bound together, and she was thrusting her legs back and forth, trying to see if she could get her feet loose, but this also proved to be hopeless. By now, Kim's gag had become wet from her own saliva, and she tried using her tongue to try and force the cotton fabric out of her mouth so that she might be able to scream out for help, but her gag was tied way too tight.

As hopeless as it all seemed, Kim still continued struggling with her heroic efforts to somehow try and get herself loose. Just imagine if you were Kim right now...You're tied to the bedposts in your kidnapper's apartment. You struggle to escape from your bondage, but you simply can't get free no matter how hard you try. The harder and harder you struggle the tighter and tighter your bindings feel against the soft skin of your wrists and ankles. All you can hear is the sound of your own voice grunting and moaning into your gag as you continue helplessly struggling to try and get loose.

Now imagine trying to scream out for help, but the gag in your mouth keeps the sound of your muffled voice limited to just soft whimpers. You shudder to think what your kidnapper will have in store for you when he returns, but worse yet, you realize that the guy who you're madly in love with is about to turn himself in for a crime he didn't even commit. This is exactly what was going on in Kim's mind right now, and it was simply driving her crazy.

Meanwhile, as Jack was racing down the highway on his way back to L.A., he couldn't get the disturbing visions out of his head after seeing his beautiful Kim helplessly bound and gagged in the video that he was just forced to watch. The constant vision of Kim desperately trying to get herself loose while being unable to scream out for help kept replaying itself inside Jack's head, and it was absolutely breaking his heart into pieces.

Proving his innocence and preserving his freedom meant absolutely nothing to Jack right now. All he cared about now was Kim's safety. He now knew there was only one thing he could do if Kim had any chance of being safely released.


	6. Chapter 6

**_Author's note: After an idea popped into my head for where I could go with this story, I somehow managed to find just enough time to post one more chapter. Thank you to everyone who has sent reviews so far. Please keep them coming because it will motivate me to keep updating. Now, on to Chapter 6. Enjoy! :)_**

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><p>"MMMPH...MMMMPH...MMMMMPH!" was the muffled sound Kim's feminine voice kept making each and every time she tried to pull her hands free from where they were tied to the bedposts. She had been tied up for well over an hour since Frank had left to go to the police station to make sure Jack turned himself in at 3:00pm as Frank had instructed to Jack in exchange for Kim to be safely released. When Kim looked over at the clock on the bedside table, she sighed into her gag, realizing it was now 3:15pm. She was dying to know what was going on with Jack right now. But at the same time, she was fearing the worst.<p>

Kim then heard someone trying to open the front door to Frank's tiny studio apartment. Thinking that this was Frank returning home, Kim felt a shiver go down her spine, as she wondered what Frank would have in store for her. However, she then heard someone pounding on the door, and Kim's beautiful brown eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when she heard Jack's voice calling out to her from the other side of the door!

"Kim, are you in there?" Jack shouted. Kim squealed into her gag as loud as she possibly could to alert Jack that she was tied up inside the apartment. "Hang in there! I'm going to try and crash this door down!" Jack shouted out to her.

After backing up and taking a running start, it took Jack just one swift karate kick to the base of the door before he came crashing through the doorway to Kim's rescue. When Jack first saw Kim in the apartment, she was the most beautiful vision he had ever laid eyes on. There she was...Sitting there on the bed, bound and gagged, but alive and well!

For Kim, watching Jack come crashing through that door was the most romantic thing she had ever seen. Here she was...A damsel in distress watching her knight in shining armor coming to her rescue! This was something that Kim had always fantasized about ever since she was a little girl, and now the fantasy had actually come true!

"Aw, Kim, I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner, but traffic on that stupid freeway was insane," said Jack as he rushed to Kim's bedside and removed her gag so that the white piece of fabric was just draped around her neck.

"That's okay. How did you know where to find me?" Kim asked as Jack was untying her left wrist from the bedpost.

"After I got that text message with the video of you all tied up, I wasn't really sure who might have kidnapped you, or where they were holding you," explained Jack as he finished untying Kim's left wrist. "So then I forwarded the video to my email so that I could get a better look at it on my laptop," continued Jack, as he had now made his way to the other side of the bed so that he could untie Kim's right wrist. "When I used the freeze frame feature and then zoomed in on the video, that's when I saw the only trophy that Frank Bickle ever won in his whole life, sitting right here on this wall shelf above your head."

"And after you found out where Frank lived, just like I did earlier today, it lead you right here to me," Kim said with a smile as Jack had just finished untying Kim's right wrist from the bedpost.

"You're exactly right," said Jack, who had now made his way to the foot of the bed so that he could untie the white piece of torn fabric still keeping Kim's ankles tightly bound together. As soon as Kim's ankles were untied, she jumped off the bed and threw her arms around Jack, as the two lovers began to kiss.

"Jack, you're my hero," Kim said softly as she was fighting back tears of joy after both of them finally came up for air after their long kiss. "You saved me! How can I ever repay you?"

"I'm just so glad I found you before it was too late," replied Jack. "Now, let's get out of this place."

"You're not going anywhere, Brewer!" Jack and Kim both suddenly heard Frank Bickle say as Frank had just quietly entered his apartment and was now pointing a gun at the two of them!

"It's all over, Bickle!" Jack replied. "Now, what do you say you put that gun down, and let's settle this like men!"

"Put your hands up where I can see them! Both of you!" Frank demanded, as he took a step closer to Jack and Kim with the gun still drawn, while Jack and Kim both placed their hands up in the air. "Now...Brewer, I want you to slowly turn around and face that wall!"

"Please, Frank!" Kim pleaded desperately. "You're in enough trouble as it is! You don't want to add murder to the list! Just let us go!"

"Shut up, and step away from him!" Frank shouted to Kim. Kim took a few steps back with her hands still up in the air, fearing what was going to happen.

"Bickle, don't do anything you're going to regret," said Jack, as he calmly turned around and faced the wall with his hands still in the air. Frank then quickly moved forward and viciously smashed the butt of his gun over the back of Jack's head, which sent Jack immediately falling to the floor unconscious.

"Oh my God, Jack!" Kim screamed out in horror as she tried to rush to his side. Before she could get to Jack, Frank had quickly grabbed Kim from behind, and he tightly pressed his right hand over Kim's mouth to prevent her from being able to continue screaming while he held her from behind.

Kim struggled as hard as she could to get herself loose from the ironclad tight grip that Frank had on her. With his hand still clamped firmly over Kim's mouth, Frank then carried her petite body up off the ground. With Kim's feet flailing in the air, Frank carried her outside his apartment, and once he got her over to his car, he stuffed her inside his trunk before shutting it on her.

Inside the trunk, Kim was screaming as loud as she could, while pounding and kicking at the inside of the trunk lid with her hands and feet. She then heard Frank start up the engine before he peeled out of the parking lot to his apartment building and sped off into the streets of West Hollywood, taking Kim away to who knows where.


	7. Chapter 7

Kim's body had been rolling around in trunk of Frank's car for the last twenty minutes or so until she finally sensed that the car had come to a stop for good. When Frank finally got out of the car and opened up the trunk, Kim could see that the car was now parked inside the garage of somebody's house.

"End of the ride, sweetheart," Frank said to Kim, as he reached out his hand and helped her out of the trunk.

"Where are we?" asked a weary Kim, as her pretty brown eyes squinted when she tried to adjust her vision to the light after being locked up in the darkness of the trunk for so long.

"We are inside a vacant house that the bank recently foreclosed on," explained Frank, as he took Kim by the arm and walked her from the attached garage into the empty house. "Nobody will ever be able to find you here."

"Good, you're finally here," said the all-too-familiar voice of the girl who greeted Frank when he brought Kim into the kitchen from the garage. It was Lindsay, the girl who was perhaps Kim's biggest enemy from Seaford High. From the moment that Kim and Lindsay had first met, they had become intense rivals, especially since they both knew that each of them happened to have a huge crush on Jack.

"Lindsay? You're involved in all of this too?" Kim said with a perplexed tone to her voice. "But, why?"

"You'll find out soon enough," Lindsay replied with a glare. "Frank, there's some rope downstairs in the basement. Take Kim downstairs and tie her up. Kim, I'll be down there to talk to you in just a minute."

Frank then took Kim down into the basement where he found a long piece of white nylon rope. Kim watched helplessly, as Frank began to tie her wrists together in front of her. After Kim's wrists were securely bound, there was about four feet of slack remaining in the rope. Frank tied the rest of this rope to a metal pipe that ran horizontal to the basement ceiling, so that Kim's arms were now raised high up into the air with her hands tied together high above her head.

"Frank, please...You have to let me go," Kim pleaded after Frank had tied her up.

"Kim, you know I can't do that," Frank told her. The white strip of cloth that Kim had been gagged with earlier when she was tied up back at Frank's apartment was still draped around her neck. Frank took hold of this cloth and placed it back into Kim's mouth to keep her quiet, just as Lindsay had walked down the stairs and into the basement.

"Did you tie her up tight enough?" Lindsay asked, as she walked right up to where Kim was standing, so that she could and check the knots to Kim's bindings.

"Yeah, this definitely ought to hold her," said Frank, as he admired his handiwork.

"Good," replied Lindsay with a look of satisfaction in her pretty blue eyes. "We can keep her here until were ready to dispose of her."

"Wait a minute... What do you mean by _dispose _of her?" asked Frank with a look of concern in his eyes.

"My dear Frank, once we get Jack to finally turn himself in to the police, we can't just let her out of here alive," said Lindsay. "She would be able to identify us."

"Now, just a second...When you first got me involved in this whole thing, nobody said anything about murder being part of the equation," Frank replied with a worried look on his face.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I thought you would have assumed that killing her would have to be our only option," answered Lindsay. "How else did you expect that we were going to get away with this?"

"I don't know, but I didn't think it would have to come down to killing someone," muttered Frank.

"Oh, my big adorable Franky-Pooh...Everything is going to be okay. Now, come on over here and give me a little sugar," Lindsay said to Frank in a seductive tone of voice. All Kim could do was stand there helplessly all tied up, while watching Frank and Lindsay now begin to make out with each other. As disturbing as this was for Kim to watch, it was also a bit confusing to see Frank kissing Lindsay as passionately as he was after he had made it abundantly clear that he had such a big thing for Kim when she was tied up back at his apartment.

"You know how to make me feel so good," Frank said to Lindsay after they finally stopped kissing.

"Of course I do," Lindsay said confidently, as she rubbed Frank's chest. "Now, why don't you run upstairs for a little bit. I want to be alone with Kim for a moment so that us two girls can have a little chat and catch up with one another."

"Okay," said Frank, as he headed upstairs and left Lindsay and Kim alone in the basement. Lindsay then turned and gazed into Kim's eyes with an evil grin on her face.

"Well, well, well...Someone has gotten herself into quite a bit of a pickle, hasn't she?" Lindsay said to Kim. With Kim's hands tied high above her head, this was causing the bottom hem of her white crop top to rise up and expose even more of her bare midriff, making Kim feel incredibly vulnerable, as Lindsay gazed at her beautiful captive from head to toe.

_"Why are you doing this?" _Kim tried to say into her gag, but the words came out garbled and unrecognizable.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't quite hear you there because you have that thing in your mouth," Lindsay replied with a smirk on her face.

"MMMPH!" was Kim's muffled reply, as she rolled her pretty brown eyes to the ceiling and sighed into her gag in frustration.

"Okay, Kim. I'm going to remove your gag for a little bit, but if you try to scream out for help, that won't be cool. Do we have an understanding?" asked Lindsay.

"Mmmhmm," Kim mumbled into her gag. "Why are you doing this to me?" Kim asked as soon as her gag was removed, as the thick white cloth was once again draped around her neck. "And what's up with you and Frank being a couple? I mean... Ew!"

"Oh, do you think that Frank and I are really a couple?" Lindsay said with a cocky chuckle, as she began to slowly walk in circles around where Kim was tied to the metal pipe high above her head. "No, I've just been making out with him every now and then to calm his nerves and make sure that the big dumb simpleton doesn't lose his mind over everything going on. Boys are always a sucker for a kiss from a pretty girl, aren't they Kim?"

"So, why are you doing this?" Kim asked once again. "You're somehow involved with that used car salesman who falsely accused Jack of stealing that car, aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah, I heard that you found out about that," Lindsay replied. "That used car salesman is my brother, by the way. You're quite the little nosy reporter, how you broke into Frank's apartment and found out about the $100,000 bet that my brother has riding on the fact that the Black Dragons are going to take first place in that tournament next week, now that Jack will be out of the picture. If only you hadn't stuck your nose where it didn't belong, we wouldn't have to kill you, now would we?"

"So this is all about a $100,000 bet? asked Kim.

"Oh, that's not the only bet my brother has on that tournament next week," explained Lindsay. "He's got well over a million dollars in bets riding on the Black Dragons next week, and I get a nice big cut of the money when we cash in on this, but trust me... I'm not just in this for the money."

"Why else would you get yourself involved in all of this?" Kim asked.

"I'm doing this for Jack," Lindsay said. "I'm crazy about him, and he is going to fall in love with me some day very soon."

"Excuse me?" Kim replied with a baffled look on her face. "That makes absolutely no sense! How in the world is sending Jack to prison going to make him fall in love with you?"

"Well, of course, he's not going to know that it was me that sent him to prison, especially when you're dead and out of the way," Lindsay replied, as she continued slowly walking around Kim in circles while leering at her from head to toe.

"You'll never get away with this!" Kim warned Lindsay.

"Think about it, Kimmy," continued Lindsay. "It's the perfect crime. Jack goes to prison for a few years. He loses his popularity and is shunned by all of his friends for being a criminal, and then I start showing up to visit him in prison to give him the only support he can get. Before you know it, he and I will be making love during my many conjugal visits to him while he sits in jail. Then, when he gets out of prison in a few years, he and I are going are going to get married and I'm going to have his children. Doesn't that sound just wonderful, Kim?"

"Have you completely lost your mind?" Kim said back to Lindsay. "You are absolutely crazy if you honestly think you can get away with this."

"I think you're just jealous because you didn't think of it first," replied Lindsay.

"No, I pretty much think you're crazy," responded Kim.

"You know something, Kim? I think I like you better with this gag in your mouth," Lindsay said, as she took hold of the white piece of cloth that was still wrapped around Kim's neck before placing it back into Kim's mouth. "FRANK, COME BACK DOWNSTAIRS NOW!" Lindsay shouted out after she had gagged Kim.

"What is it, Lindsay?" Frank asked as soon as he got to the bottom of the steps.

"Did you remember to grab Kim's phone from your apartment?" Lindsay asked him.

"Yeah, I already had it in my pocket when I grabbed Kim and put her in my trunk," answered Frank.

"Good man," replied Lindsay. "Take out her phone and shoot another video of Kim tied up like this, so that we can send it to Jack and let her know that she's still being held captive. Only this time, Jack is never going to be able to find out where she's being held."


	8. Chapter 8

Back at Frank's apartment, Jack was finally starting to regain consciousness. He had been knocked out cold when Frank had bashed the butt of his gun over Jack's head before taking off with Kim. Jack's head was throbbing, and he could feel the large bump on the back of his head, but none of this physical pain could equal the emotional pain he felt when he looked around the room and saw that Kim was nowhere in sight.

Jack then saw that he had just received another text from Kim's phone. "We are holding Kim somewhere where you'll never find her," the message said. "Turn yourself into that police station at 5:00 pm and make a full confession, or she's a dead girl."

Jack then clicked on the video that was attached to the text message. Jack could immediately see a close up view of the white nylon rope around Kim's wrists, with the other end of that rope tied to a metal pipe running horizontal to the ceiling, this keeping Kim's hands bound together high above her head. The video then showed a close up view of Kim's face, as the gag inside her mouth only seemed to show even more of the fear and anguish in those pretty brown eyes of hers that Jack loved so much.

"I still don't know how you expect me to believe that you'll let her go after I turn myself in," Jack said in a reply text message.

"How do you know we won't kill her as promised if you don't turn yourself in?" said the next text message back to Jack.

"OK, I'll do it," Jack replied via text. In a second follow up text, Jack typed "Even though I'm about to go to jail for a crime I didn't commit, if I find out you laid one finger on Kim, I'm breaking out of jail and coming after you, Bickle!"

"Are you really in any position to be making threats right now?" said the next text to Jack. "At 5pm you walk into that police station and turn yourself in, or Kim is dead. We will be watching at 5:00," said the next and final text message to Jack.

Jack thumbed through the screen on his phone, reviewing the entire text message dialogue he had just shared with whom he assumed was obviously Frank Bickle. However, Jack couldn't help but notice that the word "we" had been used by Frank three times, meaning someone else was helping Frank hold Kim hostage. _"But, who?" _Jack wondered silently to himself.

Meanwhile, back in the basement of the vacant house where Frank and Lindsay were keeping Kim tied up, Frank put Kim's phone back into his pocket after texting with Jack. "So? How did it go?" Lindsay asked eagerly.

"Jack says he's going to turn himself into the police at five o'clock, just as I've instructed him," Frank answered.

"Excellent," replied Lindsay with a look of satisfaction. "Everything about our plan is now coming into place just perfectly."

"Yep," said Frank. "And with Jack out of the picture, me and the Black Dragons are going to kick some butt in that tournament next week. Once your brother splits all that money with us from the bets he has on the Black Dragons to take first place, were going to be rich!"

"Did you hear that Kim?" Lindsay said, as she walked right up to Kim and began gently stroking her fingertips underneath Kim's chin as a mean of teasing the bound and gagged girl. "I'm going to be a rich girl very soon. Isn't that just awesome, Kim?"

All a frustrated Kim could now do in response was to tug at the ropes around her wrists while trying to turn her head away from Lindsay, as she couldn't stand the way she was gloating at her like this. Kim then turned to face Lindsay, as she glared daggers back into the eyes of her captor. The extremely angry look on Kim's face now actually intimidated Lindsay somewhat, for Lindsay knew that if Kim wasn't all tied up that she could easily kick Lindsay's butt.

"Frank, I want you to stay down here and keep an eye on Kim," ordered Lindsay. "I'm going to go upstairs and keep a look out in case we get any surprise visitors, although Jack will never be able to find us here."

After Lindsay went upstairs, Kim was now glad that she and Frank were alone because an idea had just popped into her head. Bound and gagged as she was, Kim knew she wouldn't be able to defeat him physically, but knowing how much Frank had always had a crush on her, Kim was now confident that she could take him on psychologically. She set her plan into motion when she started softly moaning into her gag while batting her long, pretty eyelashes back at Frank's direction. Kim was trying to see if she could get Frank to remove her gag.

"Okay, I'll take that gag out of your mouth if you promise not to scream or anything," said Frank as he walked up to where Kim was tied up. "Do you promise you're going to be a good girl for me?"

"Mmm hmm," Kim mumbled into her gag while nodding her head. "Thank you," Kim said softly after her gag was removed.

"Don't mention it," said Frank. "I suppose it's the least I can do, given everything Lindsay and I are putting you through right now."

"Speaking of Lindsay, she sure is bossy, isn't she?" Kim said.

"What do you mean?" asked Frank.

"Well, ever since we got here, all I hear her do is order you around... Telling you to do this... Telling you to do that," Kim explained convincingly. "I would think that a big, strong guy like yourself should be the one ordering her around."

"What can I say? I guess that's just the way she is," replied Frank. "Besides, I'm friends with her older brother, and with the kind of money we've got riding in this gambling pool, I need to kiss her ass to make a ton of cash when we win that tournament next week."

"I bet that you're going to kick butt in that tournament," Kim said, as she was continuing to butter him up, while at the same time, hoping she didn't seem too obvious about it so that she wouldn't blow her cover.

"You're darn right I'm going to kick butt," Frank replied confidently.

"Frank, can I ask you something?" Kim asked.

"What is it?" Frank replied.

"Why were you and Lindsay kissing before?" Kim asked. "Are you two an item, or something?"

"No," replied Frank, who was now blushing. "I don't know... She kissed me and I just kissed her back I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Well, when you had me tied to your bed back at your apartment earlier today, you confessed about how you always had a thing for me," Kim said. "That's why it was odd for me to see you and Lindsay kissing like that."

"Kim, I meant what I said when I told you that I've always had a thing for you," Frank said to her. "You are so incredibly beautiful. You're the prettiest girl I've ever known."

"Frank, do you remember how you told me how you planned to keep me forever after you tied me to your bed?" Kim said in a soft, seductive voice. "Well, if you don't let Lindsay kill me like she's planning to do, you do know that you could keep me forever, right?"

"You would let me keep you forever?" Frank asked.

"Of course," Kim answered convincingly. "I would owe my life to you, Frank." Kim's plan to seduce Frank so that she could some how catch him off guard was working perfectly, as Frank seemed to be buying each and every one of Kim's lies.

Frank stood there silently and gazed at Kim from head to toe, as she stood there all tied up in her summer clothes on this very hot day. With her hands tied high above her head, Kim's white crop top revealed even more of her suntanned bare midriff, and Frank loved how this was showing off her belly button and those rock hard abs of hers. He also loved how her cut-off denim shorts showed off her shapely calves and thighs. Kim was looking so beautiful right now, that Frank could no longer resist.

After moving in closer, Frank put his hands on Kim's bare hips and he moved in for a kiss. Kim, of course, absolutely hated the idea of letting Frank kiss her, but she knew her plan was working, and this was perhaps her only chance to escape. When Frank and Kim began to kiss, Kim closed her eyes and tried her best to pretend that it was Jack who was kissing her right now, but there was no way she could fool herself because Jack was the best kisser she had ever had.

"I don't suppose you could loosen these knots a little, could you?" Kim then asked softly. "The rope is really hurting my skin."

"Okay, I'm going to untie you now," said Frank, who only seemed to care about getting back to that kiss with Kim again. Kim watched Frank untie the rope from around her wrists, as the rope then hung from where the other end of it was tied to the metal pipe above Kim's head.

"Thank you so much," Kim said, as she rubbed her sore wrists. "Now that I'm finally free, I can put my arms around you and hold you close like I've been wanting to do all day."

As Frank and Kim then held each other close and began to kiss once again, Kim was just about to make her move by ramming her knee right into Frank's groin. However, just before she could do so, they both suddenly heard that unmistakeable 'clicking' sound of somebody cocking a loaded gun.

"Well, well, well... What do we have here?" said Lindsay, who was now at the bottom of the basement steps, pointing the gun at Frank and Kim.


	9. Chapter 9

"Why in the world would you think that it would be right to untie her?" asked Lindsay, as she stood at the bottom of the basement steps of the vacant house where she and Frank had been holding Kim hostage. "Are you trying to blow this whole operation?"

"Why don't you put that gun down?" Frank said, as Lindsay was still pointing the gun at Frank and Kim.

"Tell me why is Kim untied right now," Lindsay demanded.

"Because she said the rope was hurting her skin," replied Frank.

"Are you that stupid? Don't you realize that she was playing you like a fiddle?" asked Lindsay.

"What do you mean she was playing me like a fiddle?" Frank asked ignorantly.

"You moron!" exclaimed Lindsay. "I saw the two of you kissing just now. Do you really think she has a thing for you or something?"

"How do you know she doesn't have a thing for me?" argued Frank.

"Frank, even you can't be this stupid," said Lindsay. "Or, perhaps you've taken WAY too many kicks to the head in those karate tournaments of yours. Think about it. You kidnapped the girl today. You've been holding her against her will by keeping her tied up all day. Are you really stupid enough to believe that she would fall for you after all of that? She was only trying to seduce you so that you might untie her and give her a chance to escape. Sure enough, you were dumb enough to fall for it...hook, line and sinker."

"Is this true, Kim?" Frank asked Kim with this dumbfounded look on his face.

"Lindsay, why don't you put that gun down before someone gets hurt," Kim said to Lindsay, while trying to ignore Frank's question.

"Of course it's true," Lindsay said to Frank, while tossing him another piece of rope. "Tie her up!"

"I can't believe you would betray me like this," Frank said to Kim, as he spun her around and began tying her hands behind her back. Kim just sighed, as she felt the white nylon rope being tightly wrapped around her tender wrists. She had just become so close to being able to escape from her captivity. So close, yet so far away.

"Now, make her sit down on the floor and tie her feet together," ordered Lindsay, as she tossed Frank another piece of rope after he had finished tying Kim's hands behind her back. Frank then shoved Kim down into a seated position so that she was sitting on the cold cement basement floor with her back up against the wall. With Kim's legs tucked in slightly towards her chest, Frank placed both of her feet together and Kim watched him begin to tie the rope around her ankles. "Tie her up tight!" Lindsay demanded.

After he finished tying Kim's ankles together, Frank stood up and turned to face Lindsay, who was still pointing the gun at him. "I think you can put the gun down now," he said to Lindsay. "Kim is good and tied up now. She's not going anywhere for a while."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Lindsay said with a cold stare, as she took a step closer to Frank with the gun still pointed at him. "You see, I'm afraid that your ignorance and stupidity has made you become a risk to the whole operation. I'm afraid I can't have you around any more."

"So...What are you going to do now? Are you going to shoot me?" Frank asked in a challenging manner.

"I'm afraid so," revealed Lindsay.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Frank said back to Lindsay.

"I'm afraid you've left me with no other choice," said Lindsay, as she was just about to pull the trigger.

Suddenly, Frank whipped his right leg towards Lindsay, and with an incredibly quick karate kick, he was able to knock the gun out of Lindsay's hands! They both dove for the gun as it fell to the floor, and Frank was able to grab it before Lindsay could, as Kim was watching the whole thing unfold! Frank then stood up and pointed the gun at Lindsay.

"Well, now...I guess the tables have turned, haven't they?" Frank shouted at Lindsay.

"So, are you going to shoot me now?" asked a defiant Lindsay. "If you are, then just get it over with!"

"No, that would be too messy," replied Frank. "That would leave too much evidence behind. I've got something else in store for you."

Frank then picked up another piece of rope and after walking up to where Lindsay was standing, he spun Lindsay around and began tying her hands behind her back just as he had done to Kim. Once Lindsay's hands were tied behind her back, he had her sit down on the floor next to Kim, and then he ordered both of the girls to maneuver their bodies so that the two girls were sitting on the floor with their backs to each other. Using the longer piece of rope that had earlier been used to tie Kim to the metal pipe just below the ceiling, Frank then began to tie this rope around both Kim and Lindsay's upper bodies so that they would now be tied up back-to-back with each other. With one final piece of rope, Frank got down on one knee in front of Lindsay so that he could tie her feet together.

"Frank, you'll never get away with this," Lindsay said, as she helplessly watched Frank tie the rope around her ankles.

"We'll just see about that," said Frank, as he finished tying Lindsay's ankles together. "Now, you two girls just sit tight here together, because I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" asked a frustrated Lindsay, as she struggled against the rope now keeping her and Kim tied up back-to-back.

"I need to go to my car and grab something," said Frank. "It's a little science project I've been working on. I think you two girls are going to love it!"

"Great! Now what am I going to do?" huffed a frustrated Lindsay, as she helplessly strained against the ropes keeping her tied up with Kim.

"I don't know, but would you stop squirming around back there?" Kim complained. "You're only going to make these knots even tighter. Now reach behind you and see if you can untie my hands." Lindsay then reached back and started trying to pick away at the stubborn knots to the rope that was keeping Kim's hands tied together behind her back.

"OUCH! I think I broke my nail!" exclaimed Lindsay as she gave up on trying to untie Kim's hands.

"Oh, you big baby!" replied a frustrated Kim. "Here, let me see if I can get your hands free."

"This is all your fault, you know," said Lindsay.

"How on earth is this all my fault?" Kim argued, as she tried to work on the knots to the rope around Lindsay's wrists.

"Because Frank never would have had to kidnap you if you hadn't been sticking your nose where it didn't belong when you were snooping around his apartment," said Lindsay. "And now that you've falsely tried to seduce him and he knows you really don't have a thing for him, Frank has completely lost his mind!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Stand around and wait for you to kill me?" replied Kim. "Now we're both going to end up dead!"

"I hope you two girls didn't miss me while I was gone," said Frank as he returned to the bottom of the basement stairs. "Here is the science project I told you about earlier," Frank said, as he held up six sticks of dynamite that were connected to an electronic timer. "Isn't she a beauty?"

"A time bomb? After all we've been through, you're going to kill me?" Lindsay protested.

"Yes, but I'm at least going to show you two girls enough mercy to make sure that your untimely deaths will be quick and painless," said Frank. "You see, I'm going to strap this time bomb to that gas pipe just below the ceiling. When this bomb goes off, this whole house is going to blow sky high and erupt into flames. There will be no evidence left behind. They won't even be able to identify your bodies. The police won't even know your dead. They'll probably think you went missing or just ran away or something."

After duct taping the bomb to the gas pipe, Frank set the timer for twenty minutes. "How appropriate, isn't it girls?" said Frank with a dastardly grin on his face. "It's twenty minutes before five o'clock. When this bomb goes off, that will be the precise time when Jack turns himself into the police. Of course, I need to leave you ladies now so that I can go to that police station and make sure that Jack keeps his promise. Good bye, you two. It's been nice knowing you."

Meanwhile, a frantic Jack was racing down Sunset Boulevard, wondering what he should do. He then did the one thing he wished he would have done much sooner when he placed a call to his best friend, Jerry Martinez.

"Jack! Where in the heck have you been the last few days?" exclaimed Jerry when he picked up the call. "Do you have any idea that the police are looking for you?"

"Of course I do, but you know that I'm innocent, right?" replied Jack.

"Yeah, but why wouldn't you just turn yourself into the police and state your case?" Jerry replied. "Now you're in even more trouble!"

"Jerry, it's not me that I'm worried about right now," said Jack. "Kim has been kidnapped!"

"Oh my God!" exclaimed Jerry. "Who kidnapped her?"

"Frank Bickle," answered Jack. "But somebody else is helping Frank hold Kim captive. Have you heard any word on the street about who Frank might be hanging out with lately?"

"I heard he's been hanging out with Lindsay quite a bit lately," revealed Jerry. "I guess they threw some wild party at this vacant, abandoned house next to where Lindsay lives."

"Jerry, I'm headed there now!" Jack exclaimed, as he immediately slammed on his brakes while spinning his car around so that he could head the opposite way on Sunset Boulevard towards where Lindsay lived.

"I'll meet you there!" Jerry replied excitedly.

"No, I want you to go to the police station near Seaford High," instructed Jack. "Bickle thinks I'm going to turn myself in at five o'clock. He's supposed to be watching me from a remote location to make sure I walk into the front doors of that cop shop. I need you to try and find his car, because he might have Kim with him. Then again, Kim could be at that abandoned house."

Meanwhile, back in the basement of the vacant house, the time bomb had already ticked down to fifteen minutes, as Kim and Lindsay struggled against the ropes while sitting on the floor tied up back-to-back.


	10. Chapter 10

As Jack was racing down the 405 Freeway on his way to Lindsay's home to see if Kim was possibly being held captive in the vacant house next door, he kept a close look in the rear-view mirror. He was hoping that the police would not spot him, since there was still a warrant out for his arrest, but more importantly, he was hoping he could find Kim before it was too late.

Meanwhile, Jerry had made his way to the police station where Frank had instructed Jack to turn himself in at five o'clock. Jerry pulled over to the side of the street to take a look around, and sure enough, there was Frank Bickle sitting in his car, staking out the police station from a parking lot about a block away. Jerry then pulled his car up and parked next to Frank in order to confront him.

"Martinez? What the heck are you doing here?" asked a surprised Frank, as he rolled down his window after seeing Jerry get out of his car.

"I demand that you tell me where you're holding Kim!" Jerry shouted, as he walked up to Frank's driver's side door.

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't particularly care for your attitude right now!" Frank replied in a very threatening manner, as he got out of his car to confront Jerry.

Frank then threw a punch at Jerry, which Jerry was thankfully able to block. Then, with a couple of devastating karate chops and kicks to Frank's head, Jerry was able to send Frank falling to the pavement. However, when Frank got up from the ground he then pulled out a gun and pointed it right at Jerry!

Back inside the basement of the vacant house, Kim and Lindsay were still struggling to get loose from the ropes keeping them tied up, while they sat back-to-back with each other on the cold basement floor. They could see the seconds tick away on the time bomb that was strapped to the gas pipe just below the ceiling. The timer had now gotten down to just ten minutes.

"I can't believe I'm going to die," said a sobbing and scared Lindsay. "And Jack and I never got to be together like we were supposed to be."

"Oh, would you stop your whining," said Kim. "Trust me...Jack is not your type. He's in love with me. Besides, this is no time to panic. We need to figure out how to get loose!"

"Well, what can we do?" complained Lindsay. "These knots are insane! Were never going to get loose from these stupid ropes in time, and the worst part about it is that I have to spend the last ten minutes of my life with the likes of you!"

"Lindsay, I need you to calm down," advised Kim. "I know you and I have always been enemies, but right now, don't you think we sort of need to work together? Now, take a look around this godforsaken basement and see if you can spot anything that might help us to get loose from these ropes."

"There's nothing down here in this stupid basement," Lindsay complained.

"What about that metal shelf sitting against the wall over there to my right?" said Kim, as she spotted something on the shelf that made her eyes light up with encouragement.

"What about it?" asked an ignorant Lindsay.

"Are you blind?" Kim quipped. "Can you not see those old mason jars sitting on top of the shelf? If we could manage to scoot over there and knock that shelf over, the mason jars would come crashing down on the floor, and then we could use the broken glass to try and cut through these ropes!"

"Great," Lindsay sarcastically remarked. "Now I'm going to die even sooner when that hundred pound metal shelf comes crashing down on us."

"You are such a baby!" Kim shot back. "Now, start moving your body with mine, so that we can make it over to that shelf before this bomb goes off!"

The girls then began crawling on their butts, as they tried to make their way over to the shelf as quickly as they could. The ropes keeping Kim and Lindsay tied up back-to-back with each other made it difficult for them to maneuver their young bodies across the basement floor, but eventually they got close enough to the six-foot high metal shelf, where Kim could now reach the corner of the shelf with her bound feet. Using her feet, Kim started rocking the shelf back and forth until it soon fell over, causing the mason jars to shatter into pieces all over the floor, just as Kim had planned.

"Now grab a piece of the broken glass and see if you can cut me loose from the rope around my wrists!" instructed Kim.

"How do I know you're going to untie me if I get you loose?" asked a paranoid Lindsay.

"You are so useless!" complained Kim. "Don't you see that we are running out of time? Here, I'm going to see if I can cut you loose then!" Using the jagged edge from one of the pieces of broken glass, Kim then reached back and carefully began sawing through the rope around Lindsay's wrists.

"Hurry...Hurry!" Lindsay urged.

"I'm trying to go as fast as I can, but I'm also trying to be careful not to cut your wrists!" replied an anxious Kim.

Eventually, the two girls heard the rope snap free from around Lindsay's wrists. As soon as her hands were free, Lindsay immediately was able to pull her arms up and over the rope that was keeping her and Kim's upper bodies tied up back-to-back. After untying the rope from around the two girls upper bodies, Lindsay quickly bent forward and untied the rope from around her ankles.

"Hurry, Lindsay! Untie me!" exclaimed Kim, who still had her hands tied behind her back and her feet tied together.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Lindsay now said coldly, as she then began dragging Kim's body across the basement floor until Kim's back was up against a support beam that ran from the basement floor to the ceiling.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kim asked angrily.

"Making sure that you'll never be able to steal Jack away from me!" replied Lindsay with this crazy look in her eyes, as she picked up the long piece of rope that had just been tied around the girls upper bodies.

"I can't believe you would do this to me!" Kim shouted, as she watched Lindsay then begin tying Kim's upper body to the support beam. "I just saved your life!" continued Kim, as Lindsay was tightly wrapping the rope around Kim's bare midriff and around the support beam behind Kim. "How could you do this to me?"

"How could you think of even trying to take Jack away from me?" replied Lindsay, as she finished tying Kim to the support beam. "He and I were meant to be!"

"Please, Lindsay...I'm begging you!" pleaded Kim. "Please don't leave me here to die!"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do, but I do like the _'I'm begging you' _part you just said to me," replied Lindsay with an evil smirk on her face. "It's too bad for you that those are going to be the last three words that will ever come out of this mouth of yours."

"MMMMPH!" was Kim's muffled reply when Lindsay took hold of the white cloth that was still draped around Kim's neck before placing it back into Kim's mouth.

"See ya...Wouldn't want to be ya," quipped Lindsay after placing Kim's gag back into her mouth. Lindsay then took off up the basement stairs and ran out of the house as fast as she could, leaving Kim sitting there tied up and gagged. Kim was sitting close enough to where she could see the time bomb that was strapped to the gas pipe just below the ceiling. She could now see that the timer had now gotten all the way down to just three minutes.


	11. Chapter 11

"Put the gun down, Frank!" Jerry advised, as Frank was still pointing the gun at him after Jerry had found where Frank was staking out the police station. "It doesn't have to end this way!"

"Oh, I'm afraid it does have to end this way," replied Frank, as he cocked the loaded gun and took a step closer. "You see, Jerry... Just like Kim, you know too much now, and so now you have to be eliminated."

"Come on Frank...We are standing here a block away from a police station, and you really think you're going to get away with shooting me in broad daylight?" advised Jerry. "Even you couldn't be that crazy!"

"Don't bet on it," said Frank, as he took another step closer to Jerry. "I've come this far, and I'm not about to let you screw things up for me now!"

Just then, Jerry and Frank both heard the sound of screeching tires, as two officers returning to the police station in a squad car had noticed Frank pointing the gun at Jerry!

"Put the gun down now, and put your hands up in the air!" shouted one of the officers, who was now shielded behind the open driver's side door of the squad car, with his firearm pointed at Frank.

"Please don't shoot me!" Frank shouted, as he dropped his gun and placed his hands up in the air, realizing that both officers had a clean shot at him. The policemen then apprehended Frank, and after being read his rights, Frank was quickly placed under arrest. One of the officers then placed Frank into the back of the squad car, while the other officer took a statement from Jerry.

Meanwhile, across town, Kim sat there on the basement floor and she was struggling for all she worth to somehow try and get herself free from her captivity, but with her hands tied behind her back, her ankles tightly bound together, and her upper body tied to the metal support beam behind her, there was no chance for her to escape from the ropes keeping her so tightly bound. She looked up toward the ceiling and she could now see that the time bomb had ticked down to just two minutes.

"MMMPH...MMMPH," was once again the muffled sound of Kim's desperate voice, as she continuously squirmed and strained against her bindings, but it was no use. The ropes were simply too tight. There was no escape. Kim looked back up at the electronic timer on the time bomb and after seeing that it was now down to one minute and thirty seconds, Kim closed her eyes, wishing this was all a huge nightmare that she would soon wake up from. But all she saw when she closed those eyes of hers was her whole entire life flash before her eyes.

How unfair this all was for poor Kim by things having to end this way. Earlier that day, she had finally worked up the courage to share her feelings for Jack by telling him that she was falling in love with him, but now she was about to die. Furthermore, earlier on this day, Jack had reciprocated by telling Kim that he was falling in love with her, but now it appeared that the two lovers would never be together again. Never again would they be able to share the love that had only just begun to blossom between the two of them.

Kim looked down at the rope keeping her midriff tied to the support beam, and she desperately tried to wiggle her body free from her bonds one more time, but it was hopeless. She then looked up at the timer on the bomb, and it was now down to one minute and counting. As a result of having made herself physically exhausted from struggling so hard to get loose from the ropes, combined with the fact that she was scared out of her mind right now, Kim began to faint. However, after her eyes were closed for a few seconds, they quickly reopened when Kim thought she heard someone calling out to her.

"Kim? Are you down there?" Jack shouted from the top of the basement steps, as he began to quickly make his way down the stairs!

"MMMMPH!" Kim loudly squealed into her gag to alert Jack that she was indeed tied up down in the basement.

"Oh my God...Kim!" exclaimed Jack when he found her sitting on the basement floor, tied up to the metal support beam behind her. "Don't worry...You're going to okay now," Jack assured her after removing her gag, as he now began to untie the rope keeping Kim's body tied to the beam.

"Jack, there's a time bomb above your head and there's less than a minute left!" warned Kim. "You'll never be able to get me untied in time! Just take off and save yourself!"

"I wouldn't dream of leaving you down here!" replied Jack after he looked up at the bomb and noticed that the timer was down to 45 seconds. He then quickly went back to work at untying the stubborn knots that were tied together across Kim's bare midriff. Finally, Jack was able to get Kim's upper body free from the support beam!

With Kim's hands still tied behind her back and her feet still tied together, Jack picked her petite little body up off the ground and he began to carry her over his right shoulder, as the time bomb was now down to just thirty seconds! Quickly, Jack carried Kim up the basement stairs and then toward the front door of the house!

Once he had Kim out into the front yard of the house, he was still running as fast as he could in order to get as far away from the house as possible. Kim and Jack then heard a tremendously loud blast, and the force of the explosion sent them both tumbling onto the front lawn. Jack quickly rolled Kim over onto her stomach and then he got on top of her to shield her from the falling debris, as the house had erupted into flames just fifty feet behind them. A plume of black smoke was rising high up into the blue sky.

As soon as the debris from the explosion stopped falling around them, Jack once again picked Kim up off the ground and he carried her over his shoulder to a park across the street, where they were now safe and plenty far away from the burning house. Jack gently set Kim down so that she was sitting on the grass, and then he knelt down behind her so that he could untie Kim's hands.

"Are you okay?" Jack asked with concern in his voice as he continued untying the knots to the rope that was still keeping Kim's hands tied behind her back.

"Yeah, I'm okay! Are you?" asked Kim, as Jack finished untying the rope from around her wrists.

"I'm fine. I'm just so happy I was able to find you in the nick of time," replied an incredibly relieved Jack, who had now gotten down on one knee in front of where Kim was sitting on the grass so that he could untie her feet. However, before Jack could even begin to untie the rope from around her ankles, Kim had quickly maneuvered her body into a kneeling position, and she threw her arms around Jack because she simply couldn't wait any longer to hold onto Jack once again.

"You saved me again," Kim said to Jack, as the two of them held each other close and gazed into each other's eyes. "You've come to my rescue twice in one day! You are amazing! You are my dream come true! I love you, Jack Brewer."

"I love you too, Kim Crawford," replied Jack.

With her arms still around Jack, Kim then laid down on the grass, gently pulling Jack down with her. Jack then gently got on top of Kim, as the two lovers began to kiss. The sound of the wailing sirens coming from the fire trucks that were on their way to the burning house didn't even seem to phase Jack or Kim, as they were just so happy to be back in each other's arms once again.


	12. Chapter 12

A month had passed since Jack had saved Kim's life after she was kidnapped and left for dead in the vacant house, where the bomb went off shortly after Jack had come to her rescue. Jack and Kim were now seeing each other on a regular basis, and they were falling more and more in love with each other every day.

When the dust had finally settled from everything that had happened, the police had dropped the charges that they had previously filed against Jack for stealing the car and robbing the convenience store. He still could have faced some jail time for not turning himself in after the arrest warrant was issued, but the District Attorney reduced his punishment to 150 hours of community service in exchange for Jack's testimony against Frank, Lindsay, and Lindsay's brother, who was the guy responsible for setting up the gambling ring that had lead to everything else that had happened.

Frank was found guilty of stealing the car and robbing the convenience store, but that was only the least of it. He was also found guilty for kidnapping and attempted murder. As a result of all these convictions, Frank was given a prison sentence. He hadn't had his sentencing hearing yet, but it was quite likely that Frank would be an old man before he ever saw the light of day again.

Lindsay's brother was found guilty for illegal gambling, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and for falsely reporting the stolen car to the police. He too would be sent to prison. Lindsay, however, had managed to stay on the run ever since she had took off and left Kim tied up in the basement of the house that exploded. The police had been looking for her ever since, but today, they had finally found where Lindsay was hiding.

When Kim got home from karate practice on this particular day, she turned on the Five O'Clock News and she could not believe her eyes. There was Lindsay in handcuffs, as the news cameras showed her being taken out of the back seat of a squad car before being hauled into the county jail. The police had finally tracked her down! Kim called Jack right away to tell him the good news.

"Jack, turn on the Five O'Clock news right away! You have to see this!" Kim exclaimed with joy when Jack picked up her call.

"I know! I'm watching it right now!" Jack replied. "They finally caught Lindsay!"

"This is so awesome!" Kim shouted out with glee. "She's going down just like Frank did when they convict her of everything she's guilty of."

"At the very least, they're going convict her for being an accessory to a crime by helping Frank hold you captive when you were kidnapped," said Jack. "I bet they'll also get her for attempted murder when she left you all tied up in that basement."

"I'm just so relieved they finally caught that crazy bitch," said Kim. "Why don't you come over and we'll celebrate? I've got the house to myself tonight. I'll make you dinner."

"That sounds great!" Jack replied. "Should I be there around 6:00?"

"That would be wonderful," answered Kim.

Later that night, after sharing a romantic candlelit dinner together, Kim told Jack that she was going to run upstairs and slip into something a bit more comfortable. Jack already loved how sexy Kim looked in the little black strapless mini dress she was wearing, but he could hardly wait to find out what Kim would be wearing next.

While waiting for Kim to come back downstairs, Jack cleared off the table and loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. When Jack turned around and saw Kim come into the kitchen, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Kim was wearing a white silk kimono robe that was short enough to show off a rather generous portion of Kim's suntanned, shapely thighs. She looked absolutely breathtaking!

"Wow!" was all that Jack could say, as he gazed at Kim from head to toe.

"Do you like what you see?" Kim asked softly, as she walked up to Jack and put her arms around him.

"I love what I see," Jack replied, as the two lovers held each other close.

"You know...I've been meaning to pay you back for something," Kim said.

"Pay me back for what? For coming to your rescue?" asked Jack. "You know that's not necessary."

"No, Silly," Kim replied with a little chuckle and a grin. "Not that kind of payback. I mean a _revenge _sort of payback."

"Revenge? For what?" replied Jack with a look of both curiosity and confusion in his eyes.

"Do you remember that morning when you left me tied to that chair in your cabin?" Kim asked, as she could hardly contain the grin on her face over what she was about to tell Jack.

"I'm so sorry about that," Jack replied sincerely. "I never should have tied you up like that. I should have trusted you when you told me you wouldn't go to the police."

"Well, I guess I can forgive you on one condition," Kim replied in a soft, sultry tone of voice.

"And what condition would that be?" asked Jack, who now sort of had a sense for where Kim might be going with this.

"This time, I get to tie _you _up," Kim told him.

"Really?" replied Jack with a look of bewilderment in his eyes.

"Really...Now, sit down!" Kim said in a forceful, yet playful manner when she pointed to the kitchen chair where Jack had earlier sat down in for dinner.

When Jack sat down, Kim started to take off her robe to reveal the matching white silk lingerie that she was wearing underneath. Jack could hardly believe his eyes! After removing the sash that served as the waist belt for Kim's robe, Kim then walked to the back of Jack's chair. Kim then pulled Jack's arms back and placed his hands together behind the back of the chair. The next thing Jack knew, he could feel Kim tying the white silk sash around his wrists!

Once Kim had finished tying Jack to the chair, he playfully struggled to see if he could get his hands free, and sure enough, he could not get loose! Kim then walked to the front of the chair and she got on top of Jack so that they were sitting face-to-face, with Kim's legs straddled over Jack's lap.

"How does it feel, knowing that I have complete control over you now and I can do with you as I please?" Kim whispered seductively into Jack's left ear.

"It feels pretty damn good, actually," Jack whispered back. "So...What do you plan to do with me now?"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something," Kim softly replied, as she began to give Jack soft, gentle kisses all over his neck. With her legs still straddled over Jack's lap, Kim could easily tell that Jack was getting incredibly aroused. Jack and Kim then began to French kiss with one another.

Jack was loving every minute of this, as the two of them were engaged in a seemingly endless kiss. Inside their wet, warm mouths, both of their tongues were slowly twirling around with each other in perfect harmony. It was as if both of their tongues were two lovers enjoying a slow dance together, and neither one of them wanted this night to end.

"I didn't tie you up too tight, did I?" Kim asked when they finally stopped kissing for a moment so that they could each catch their breath.

"No, I'm loving this, but there's just one problem though," replied Jack.

"What's that?" asked Kim.

"Seeing you in this lingerie is making me want to touch you so badly, but I can't exactly do that with my hands tied," said Jack. "You are going to untie me eventually, right?"

"Hmmm...I suppose you've suffered enough punishment for tonight," said Kim.

"You call this punishment? Yeah, right!" Jack replied, as Kim walked to the back of his chair so that she could untie his hands.

After Kim had finished untying Jack, she tossed the white silk sash aside and then she took Jack by the hand. "Come with me," Kim said softly.

"Where are we going?" asked Jack, as Kim was leading the way and still holding on to Jack's hand.

"You'll see," replied Kim.

With Kim leading the way, Jack followed her upstairs and into her bedroom. Kim then offered up her body for Jack by laying down on her bed with her body sprawled out and her head on her pillow. Jack loved how Kim's gorgeous blonde hair was cascading over the edges of the pillow, almost like a beautiful waterfall going over a mountainside. Jack then gently got on top of Kim, and the two lovers began to kiss once again. Before either one of them knew it, Jack and Kim were making love for the first time ever.

**_The End :)_**


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